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Feynman rules translate a Feynman diagram into a contribution to a scattering amplitude or correlation function in perturbation theory. They specify factors for external states, interaction vertices, internal propagators, momentum-conservation constraints and loop integrals, with statistics-dependent signs and symmetry factors. For quantum electrodynamics, a photon-fermion vertex contains the coupling $e$, while a photon propagator supplies an inverse squared four-momentum. The complete amplitude also contains currents, so propagator powers alone do not determine the energy dependence of a scattering cross-section.

Outside a short-range scattering region, the stationary Schrödinger equation reduces to the two-dimensional Helmholtz equation. Separation in polar coordinates gives outgoing radial Hankel functions, whose large-$r$ dependence is $r^{-1/2}{e}^{ikr}$. The same power follows from conserved probability current: a circle has length proportional to $r$, so the squared outgoing amplitude must decrease as $1/r$.

For an incident plane wave in the $x$ direction, adopt the dimensionless amplitude conventionThe phase $e^{i\pi /4}$ and factor $k^{-1/2}$ specify the definition of $f$; they can be absorbed into a differently normalized scattering amplitude. Here they are kept exactly so that the later two-dimensional scattering cross-section follows consistently.

The incident plane wave carries probability current $j_{\mathrm{in}}=\hslash k/m$. For the separated outgoing wave from the previous part,The rate through a distant arc is $r{j}_r^{\mathrm{sc}}d\theta$. Dividing by incident flux defines the differential two-dimensional scattering cross-section,Because $f$ is dimensionless, $\lambda$ has units of length, as appropriate for scattering in a plane.

For a real central potential and the outgoing convention $e^{i\pi /4}f(\theta )e^{ikr}/\sqrt{kr}$, the Partial-wave S-matrix is $S_m=e^{2i{\delta }_m}$. The cosine form of the Jacobi-Anger expansion fixes $w_0=1$ and $w_m=2$ for $m\ge 1$. Comparing the outgoing part of each phase-shifted radial cosine with the incident plane wave gives the displayed scattering amplitude. Integrating $|f{|}^2/k$ gives the displayed scattering cross-section, since the constant angular mode has squared norm $2\pi$ and each positive-order cosine has squared norm $\pi$. Reversing the multiplicities would already fail to reproduce the free plane wave at zero scattering phase shift.